Many write to produce a book (or many) that others will enjoy. That and maybe a little extra money is often reward enough. But what if you want to make it a career and quit your day job? What if you want to reach a lot more people?
Authors who have made it big or at least made enough to write full time started where every author begins - with that first book. But they didn’t launch ahead with great sales alone. They realized they needed to expand and give their fans more than just books.
There’s a saying - don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. You want many baskets. You want an arsenal of weapons at your disposal to conquer success. Think of it as planting many seeds and a variety of them.
How do you plant different seeds or acquire many baskets? You diversify yourself and what you offer.
How do you do that?
Write different genres:
Step outside your normal genre with or without a pen name
Offer more formats:
Serials in magazines
Foreign translations
Audio books
Games - card game, board game, video game, game app for tablet
Audio/visual - stage, radio, TV, or movie
Speaking:
As an author about your book or the publishing process - book clubs, writing groups, writing or book conferences
As an expert on a topic - conferences & conventions or seminars
Teach a subject - seminars, workshops, conferences, teleseminars, or online programs
Offer tie-ins:
Products or swag that connects with your book, the characters, or the setting. The possibilities are endless - pens, jewelry, mugs, bags, artwork, clothing, figures, etc.
Offer non tie-ins:
Other products you create, collect/sell. Again, the possibilities are endless - crafts, jewelry, knitted or sewn items, stock photos, artwork, candles, figures, comics, etc.
Authors and writers are creative people. Take that creativity and look beyond your first book. Offering more will give your author platform a firmer foundation and a better chance for success.
In what ways could you diversify?
36 comments:
Thank you Diane for some useful tips which I'm sure will come in useful to many people.
Yvonne.
Dragon of the Stars board game - find the Dragon!
These are some great ideas! Definitely diversify. I'm always impressed with all the multi-talented writers out there who do so many creative things.
Great ideas. I am also a non-fiction contract writer. While not as creative as writing a book, I do get a paycheck each month that sort of supports me.
Hi Diane - yes ... and learn about moving forward in all areas you want to move into - study the people who are great in that 'new' field ... so you can ease in comfortably ... makes sense to diversify, as well as be prepared for that new role. Cheers Hilary
You have some great ideas here, Diane. I've been thinking about submitting articles/stories to children's magazines. I used to when I first started writing and most of them pay pretty good. It's fun also to write stories (true) for the Chicken Soup books. They pay okay and it's another published story.
Will try some of your other suggestions.
Beverly, those all add up.
It always amazes me how creative authors can be in finding ways to get their work out and to support themselves. I'm never that clever.
I only do swag for giveaways or book events. Selling those things sounds a little bit too much for me to keep up with and set up.
Lots of great ideas here, Di.
We do tend to stay in our comfort zones, don't we? This is great advice. Gotta stretch ourselves to expand our readership.
Thanks, Diane.
Great tips! I've been thinking about how to do this for one of the non-fiction topics I have in the works. Thanks for the brain boost :)
A boardgame for the cat, how about that lol Sure are many ways. We have the many genres down.
Chrys, if it's a niche item, it works. We're selling art prints of our book covers and more at sci-fi cons and selling well.
Pat, you and Alex can do a cat and dragon board game.
Useful tips, L Diane. I think writing more books is the most important thing for sure.
I've done better with some of these things than others!
Diane, Love this article. My takeaways are that we should keep writing, but also step out of our boxes, trying genres of writing. I think this honestly keeps our minds clearer--doing different writing than we're used to.
Teresa
It's never a bad idea to diversify. I see it as no different than using a variety of social media platforms—one might work where another doesn't, and in the meantime, your name is out there in a different place.
Great creative ideas!
Well, I write in three genres, but lately I'm putting all my eggs into the basket that's--damn, my metaphor is crumbling. I'm writing romance because that's what I was able to sell. The rest is simmering on the back burner.
I hope one day to accumulate enough writerly wisdom to be able to teach creative writing as well.
T, step out of the box and do more.
Lynda, that's it. And when one income stream is low, another surges.
Rhonda, that would be a great option for you.
I don't usually stick to one genre. Okay, I write mysteries with elements from several genres. It depends on the story at the time. But other than that, I've not thought about it.
But maybe I should. :-)
Anna from elements of emaginette
Great information. Bookmarking page. Thank you.
The deck of cards is a want of mine. Maybe someday! Great list of suggestions. :)
Hi, L. Diane,
Hope you made it through the hurricane all right~
What a terrific topic. I agree. It is a good way to get your name out there if you diversify.
I love that you recommend writing in different genres. I cannot commit, and many agents preach to build an audience in one genre. But I love so many genres. Can you hear the whine in my voice? :)
It's so funny you mention this, Diane. "This" being audio. I had a thought pop into my head yesterday about doing a podcast in the future. Not sure it will pan out because I have no idea what's involved and what the cost of it will be, but yeah...cool stuff. Thank you for this!
Elsie
Loni, I can tell you where to get them.
Elsie, you should try it.
Good tips. Writers don't always make their money by selling their books, either. A lot of us make more with speaking engagements.
I've done some speaking events and was surprised how much I enjoyed them. I've always hated public speaking - until I could talk about writing! Then it was almost fun.
Thanks for all these suggestions - you give great advice.
Excellent advice, Diane. Thanks so much. You've already got me brainstorming...:)
Thanks for all the great advice. And, I love the swag!! Tick Tock playing cards. Brilliant.
Great tips! Would love to do audio books of my books. Have looked into it- but really just need to get started. :) I love listening to audio books!
Thanks for sharing.
~Jess
Sherry and Julie, I love doing speaking engagements and they probably pay the best.
Mary, you can order those on the site.
Jess, ACX is a great resource for making audio books.
Great advice. I try to have at least a few speaking opportunities per year, but most of them don't pay. Still trying to write in different genres.
I really want to teach, maybe to a library group, or seniors. I'll be looking into that soon, I hope!
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